Grease cup



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INVENTOR.

A TTQRNE Y.

Patented Julius, 1922 ii fit flirll lil JOHN E. MAIN, OF DETROIT,:IICHIGAN.

GREASE CUP.

Application filed January 13, 1921. Serial No. 436,867.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. MAIN, a citizen of the United States, andresiding at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, haveinvented a new and Improved Grease Cup, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to that type of lubricators known as grease cups,and its object is to provide a device of this charac ter which may befilled by means of sooalled grease guns without the *necessity ofremoving the cup or any of the parts.

This invention consists of a cylindical body having a top and bottom,the bottom being formed with a threaded discharge connection and the topbeing apertured to. receive a rotatable inlet tube, the tube beingthreaded to fit in a threaded piston and the outer end of the tube beingclosed with a check valve.

It also consists in forming the piston of a pair of circular disks, acup shaped member of very thin resilient metal between them, and aninternally threaded tube having circumferential shoulders to hold thedisks together.

It further consists of the details of construction illustrated in theaccompanying drawing and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a central vertical section of this improvedgrease cup. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the severalviews.

The present invention is designed to take advantage of the fact thatcylindrical bodies may be drawn from circular sheets and that althoughthe internal circumferences of such bodies are substantially equalthroughout their length, the cross sections are not exactly the samethroughout their length. This has been found objectionable as it niadereaming or otherwise machining them necessary. The filling of greasecups by means of grease guns has been attempted but with poor success asthe usual cup'must be taken apart to permit filling.

In the present cup, 1 is a cylindrical shell having an end 2, preferablyproduced by drawing from a circular sheet of metal, and while the end 2is centrally perforated, the lower end of the shell is threaded to fitwithin the threaded flange 3 of the base 4 which is formed with athreaded connection 5. This base may also be formed by drawing dies froma circular disk.

A tube 6 is rotatable in the perforation in the end 2 and has a collar 7secured to it by any desired means, a pin 8 being shown. The lower andmain portion of the tube is threaded to receive the threaded hub 9 ofthe piston which consists of the two disks 10 and 11 held in position bythe shoulders 12 and 13, by means of which the circular heads 14 and 15of the intermediate cup-shaped piston members are held in position. Tothese circular heads are attached the cylindrical skirtings 16 and 17which are very thin and resilient. I prefer these skirtings to be only afew thousandths of an inch thick and to be slightly flaring so that thelower edge of the outer skirting will closely fit the inner surface ofthe body 1. The metal of these sklrtings is so thin that it will conformto every irregularity in the shell 1 and the diameterof the lower edgeof the outer skirting isjust above thatof the shell so that leakagebetween them of grease is pre; vented.

After the upper end of the tube 6has been passed up through the aperturein the top 2, a winged collar 18 is clipped onto the projecting end, acheck valve preferably in the form of a bale 19 is dropped into thereduced end, a spring 20 is positioned by means of a proper tool and thepin 21 is inserted to hold the collar and spring in place. The upper endofthe tube is preferably formed with a collar 22 to retain a grease gun.

When the grease cup has been mounted on a machine or hearing, the pistonis drawn to the top of the body by turning the tube, after which agrease gun is connected to the upper end of the tube and grease isforced down into the cup through the tube 6, the check valve 19 beingforced down thereby to permit its passage. the Gullborg Patent No.1,307,734, dated June 24, 1919, when provided with the coupling shown bythe Piquerez Patent No. 1,27 6,108, dated August 20, 1918, may be usedfor this purpose. Thereafter the collar 18 and the tube 6 may be turnedto force down the piston and to squeeze the grease out through theconnection 5. The friction between the skirting of the piston and thebody 1 is greater than between the tube 6 and the hub 9.

A grease gun such as In some cases it is impossible to attach the greasegun to the outer end of the tube 6, and to render this grease cup ofgeneral application I attach a small connector 23 to the body 1 near thebottom 4, as shown in Fig. 1, this connector being formed with a checkvalve 19, a spring to hold it in place, and preferably with a small pin21 to support the spring. The action of this connector is the same abovedescribed.

The inner skirting 17 and its disk 15 may be omitted if foundunnecessary with stiff greases and the various parts of the cup may bechanged as to both design and proportion without departing fromthespirit of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim-: v

1. In a grease cup, the combination of a cylindrical shell, a bottomfor-the body having a discharge opening, a top for the shell providedwith a central opening, a tube rotatable inuthe opening and a collar onthe tube below said top, a second collar attached to the tube abovethe'top, a check Valve in the upper end of the tube to prevent theescape of the contents of the cup, said tube having a threaded exterior,withinthe body,

and a'piston screwed, onto the tube provided with athin resilientskirting engaging the interior surface ofthe shell to prevent therotationof the piston in the cup.

2. A- piston for grease lcups comprising a hub, a pairv of supporting,diskssecured' thereon, and a plurality of thin metal disks between thesupporting disks, said thin disks having cylindrical skirtings, onewithin the other, extending down from the circumference of said diskswith the lower edge of the outer skirting adapted for engagement withthe interior of the shell, and heads attached to said skirtings andsecured between the disks.

3. In a grease cup, the combination or a cylindrical shell, a top and abottom having a discharge opening, said top having a central opening, ascrew threaded cylindrical member rotatable in the opening and having athreaded exterior within the body, means to rotate said cylindricalmember, a piston screwed onto the cylindrical member and comprising apair of supporting disks and a thin pressed sheet metal disk between thesupporting, disks and provided with a thin resilient skirting engagingthe interior cylindrical surface of the cup, said cup having an inletopeningthrough which grease may be introduced, anda check valve tonormally close said inlet opening;

l. piston forgrease cups comprising a pair of circular disks, aplurality of thin -metal heads between the disks and a thin resilientcylindrical skirting attached to the edge 0i each head, the outerskirting engagng the interior-suri'ace of the shell or the grease cup.

' JOHN H. MAIN.

